One Year of Dundee Changemakers Hub!
As we begin 2025, we also wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on and celebrate all that happened last year for Dundee Changemakers Hub across the many groups and communities that engaged with our programmes.
Dundee Changemakers Hub’s vision is to ensure Dundee’s communities are leading change together for a better tomorrow. We aim to do this through practical support to better connect, equip and inspire community groups and local changemakers to take action – harnessing creativity to make change possible, playful and within reach, and ensuring the voice of communities is heard at all levels.
The project has been designed and led by five local social enterprises, enabled by and part of the Scottish Government’s Climate Action Hub Network — you can find out more about the overall project at the end of this post.
One year on…
Across 2025, in partnership with a network of hundreds of people across the city, Dundee Changemakers Hub has been designing and delivering:
A shared vision: shaped by 170+ conversations at ‘Not Another Visioning Event’ in March 2024, and through creative engagement activities with local communities leading to the event. Dundee Changemakers Manifesto includes ten aspirational guiding principles, from boosting existing actions and valuing the diversity of perspectives, to imagining the future together and practising collaboration – principles which are shaping our network’s approach to making change.
A vibrant identity: we have a visually recognisable and well established digital footprint across our website, social media and monthly newsletter, within a short time frame. In this last year, we have gained 300+ subscribers to our newsletter, and 800+ followers across social media platforms, where we share news, events and opportunities from across our network.
Skillshares, networking and social events: connecting people and projects across the city from different groups and areas of focus. Hosting and supporting 18 events has strengthened Dundee Changemakers Hub as an initiative that brings people together with a common thread, and we continue to see well-attended events with feedback that confirms the value of connecting things up.
Microgrants: we have supported 16 new grass-roots projects, through local SOUP events to city-wide online applications. Funded projects range from setting up a new community garden; teaching women and girls about making and using reusable sanitary products; and hosting creative workshops to encourage people who experience disabilities and barriers to express their authentic voices.
Three community pilot projects: our ambition to test new models in close collaboration with local communities (Manyways, Whitfield and Coldside) whilst running city-wide networking, communications and skillshares, has been crucial to making a stronger connection between larger organisations and networks, and smaller, impactful neighbourhood work. From co-designing and establishing a new inclusive sanctuary garden to demonstrate how individuals and small community groups can create more desirable and accessible neighbourhood areas; taking a collaborative approach across local groups to delivering community and climate actions, and creating awareness of outdoor spaces that families can enjoy through (notably) the ‘Invisible Playground’ initiative; and finally slowly building trust and self-belief by bringing individuals and groups together on a regular basis in Whitfield, whilst creating a sense of ownership amongst the people who want to see change happen at their local level.
Community Journalism: after running a pilot project for young aspiring journalists (Press Change) earlier in the year, we added four community journalists to the Dundee Changemakers Hub’s team in October – one covering each pilot project, alongside a filmmaker to celebrate the city-wide network of changemakers. With a desire to tell the positive stories of grass-roots initiatives and activities through the lens of different media, this cohort of storytellers are sharing authentic accounts of the incredible work being done by individuals and small groups in their communities, and the creation of a short film which will capture the wider city-level climate and social justice activity.
Fabric: we held the first session (Play & Collective Imagination) of a unique peer learning journey that brings together creative practitioners and community organisers in Dundee to connect, share knowledge, and explore how collective action can inspire a better future.
Internally strengthening the Hub’s core partnership: bringing together five dedicated organisations to work together and share strengths with many others tackling climate change and social justice issues locally, as an alternative to the traditional climate hub model.
Evaluation, monitoring and research: as well as collating the required data for reporting back to funders, our approach to evaluating our work has been a little different – after a first phase working with Service Design Academy, looking at our collaborative approach and partnership working, we now have a community-led evaluation group of 8 diverse community members who meet regularly and are doing research to understand how community groups can influence social and climate policies.
What comes next and how to get involved
It’s been a busy year and we still have so much we want to make happen as a small, busy, part-time team! Over the coming months ahead Changemakers invites you to:
Join the Changemaker Network and join up to our list of members! We want to make all the great work going on across the city more visible and connected. The membership is open to community groups and individuals – watch this space for more opportunities to share skills, expertise and resources, and a visual map of all members.
More opportunities to connect and learn from each other. Join us at these two workshops: Crafting Your Own Story For Change & Having Difficult Conversations (dates and venues will be shared very soon).
Celebrate community voices at a special event, shining a spotlight on local groups and initiatives, to share more about their experiences, learnings and successes. This event will be held in the evening of 27 March – save the date!
About Dundee Changemakers Hub:
Dundee Changemakers Hub was announced during Scotland’s Climate Week 2023, following an application to Scottish Government’s Climate Action Fund, Climate Action Hubs which aims to build local awareness of the climate emergency, develop local plans, help groups take up funding opportunities, and contribute to a Just Transition which is fair and leaves no one behind.
A collective of five local community organisations in Dundee came together to bid for the hub locally, led by Transition Dundee, including The Maxwell Centre, Scrap Antics, Uppertunity and Creative Dundee. The organisations came together to make sure that Dundee’s communities are leading the charge for change on climate related issues, before change is done to us.